New Delhi, September 18
Three persons have been murdered and two critically injured in the national Capital since last night.

While a trader, property dealer and a 25-year-old man were killed in different parts of the city, an accountant with a private company and an employee of a courier company were critically injured after being shot at.

In south Delhi, a property dealer was stabbed to death in the Neb Sarai area this morning. According to information, three to four men barged into the house of property dealer Dalbir Singh Yadav (42) in Khanpur village around 8:30 am, tied his legs and arms with cable wires and then stabbed him with a knife. His wife was not present in the house at the time of the incident. However, his 11-year-old son, who was at home, was also tied with cable wires. He received minor injuries while protecting his father, the police said.

Dalbir was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The police believes that business rivalry could be the reason behind the murder and is questioning people close to Dalbir. A case has been registered and investigations are on.

In another incident, a trader was robbed and shot dead by unknown bike-borne assailants in west Delhi last night while he was returning to his Shalimar Bagh residence with his family.

Kanhaiya Lal Sachdeva, an electronics goods trader who owned a shop in Lajpat Rai market in Chandni Chowk, was killed while his nephew Ashish Sachdeva is recuperating in a private hospital with bullet wounds.

According to the police, Ashish is not in a position to give any statement right now as his condition is critical.

The incident took place around 9.30 pm near M-Block, Shalimar Bagh, when the car occupied by Kanhiya Lal, his brother Dewan Chand, nephew Ashish and son Manoj reached there for Kanhiya Lal and his son to get down at their house. As soon as the car stopped, three to four men who were already standing started firing at them indiscriminately.

“As the driver stopped the car, the assailants opened fire at the trader, killing him on the spot while his nephew was injured,” said a senior police official from the district, adding that six rounds of bullets were fired. He said that robbery seemed to be the motive behind the murder as the attackers escaped with two bags containing money.

Kanhia Lal’s brother Dewan Chand too received minor injuries in the attack.

In yet another murder that took place yesterday night, a 25-year-old man was shot dead by five persons in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area following a tiff over money lending.

The deceased has been identified as Bhupinder Jain.

According to police, the assailants had lent money to Bhupendra Jain and were demanding it back for quite some time. Despite of several assurances, Bhupinder had failed to return the money and some dispute arouse regarding the interest charged on the principal sum.

“There was a quarrel between Bhupinder and the money lenders over the money which turned violent leading to the killing of Bhupendra. He died on the spot. We have identified the assailants and will arrest them soon,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (east) Anyesh Rai.

In another incident, an accountant was critically injured by three motorcycle-borne men around 9 am today in the Bhogal area of south Delhi.

According to information, Rajender, employed with a private company, was accosted by bike-borne robbers who tried to snatch a bag from him. When Rajender resisted, they shot him before escaping with the bag.

In the Mandawali area of east Delhi, Umesh, a courier company employee, was critically injured by motorcycle-borne criminals around 10 am today. The assailants opened fire at him and escaped. Umesh is undergoing treatment at a private hospital while a case has been lodged and investigations are on. 

New Delhi, September 18
With the arrest of a youth, the Delhi police has claimed to have solved the murder of a 21-year-old girl whose body was found in west Delhi’s Mundka village four days ago.

The victim, Nikita Singh, was a student of Aditi College.

Vineet Lakadwala (24), neighbour and college friend of Nikita was arrested for the murder last night.

The police cites love affair between Vineet and Nikita as the reason behind the murder.

Nikita, a B.A. final year student of Aditi College, was allegedly kidnapped while she was returning home from college on September 14. The police said she left for college around 10 am that day and did not return. Her father Vijender, a property dealer, filed an FIR regarding this.

Vijender received a phone call around 2:25 pm from an unknown number. The caller threatened him and told him that the girl had been kidnapped. He said he had murdered Nikita and her body was lying in a locked house nearby. Vijender then made a PCR call.

The police reached the spot and broke open the door. Nikita’s body was stuffed in a polythene bag. She had sustained a bullet injury on her temple.

The police traced the call and interrogated the residents of the area, which finally led to the arrest of Vineet. 

Ghaziabad/ Noida, Sept 18
Life came to a halt in western Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muradnagar, Aligarh, Dadri and Noida, where advocates had called a two-day bandh in support of their demand to set up a high court bench in the region.

For the first time in past 28 years, general public was seen supporting the demand.

The protesting advocates stopped Shalimar Express at Ghaziabad railway station and Guwahati Rajdhani at Muradnagar station and jammed various roads and highways. Shutters of shops in many markets were forcibly pulled down.

In Aligarh, advocates burnt tyres to express their protest and anger. Here, Rewa Express was detained for half an hour. Bus services were also paralysed.

Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad were severly effected as all markets and petrol pumps in Ghaziabad were forced to shut down.

In Noida Phase-2 and Dadri, advocates undertook a ‘chakka-jam campaign’. In Modinagar, Sahibabad, Hapur and Garh Mukteshwar also advocates dierupted normal life and roads were jammed at various places.

In Meerut, Delhi-Dehradun, Meerut-Bedayun and Lucknow highways were blocked. Groups of advocates, traders and even politicians were seen ordering closure of shops in various localities and markets.

The chairman of Sangarsh Samiti G.S. Dhama said the bandh had been a great success and future strategy would be decided in a meeting in Noida on Saturday.

New Delhi, September 18
Here comes the first-of-its-kind of healthcare, right at doorstep, for over five lakh senior citizens in Delhi who can now hope for increased eyecare and attention through SEWA Privilege Card.

The initiative, launched this evening in the Capital by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, furthers the “Bhagidari movement” of the government and is a part of the corporate social responsibility of Sharp Sight Centre (SSC), which has started the programme as a pilot project in East Delhi.

Sheila said, “Programmes like SEWA are the need of the time so that more people can be benefited, and it has been thought to reach senior people at their home. It is good that this scheme would enable old people to avail themselves of eye care at reduced costs and the best part is that they don’t have to rely on their family members to take them for check-ups.”

The medical director of SSC Dr Samir Sud said, “All SEWA cardholders would be encouraged to go for regular eye check-ups, for the centre has four vehicles to facilitate them with pick-and-drop facility.”

Adding that with ageing, a host of ailments threaten senior people, he asserted, “Senior people encounter a lot of health hazards like hypertension, diabetes etc, especially after the age of 50 and this affects their vision to great extent.”

He enumerated that a large part of the senior populace of the city suffers from cataract, retinopathy, glaucoma, etc Due to the lack of attention from family members, they continue to live with them. But now, with the help of the SEWA card, they can receive regular counselling and medication within the range of Rs 10,000 to 35,000 at 10 per cent reduced cost. “We want to fill the gap in the care of the senior citizens.”

As far as the logistics for the programme is considered, it is going to be the charge of SSC with aid from the Delhi government. “For the programme, we have staff of 32 people with six doctors. Later we will extend it to other two branches in the city,” informed Dr Samir.

A resident of Vasundhara Enclave, G S Singhla (65) said, “People do things merely for publicity and money, but this is good as it would be helping the senior citizens.” 

New Delhi, September 18
Giving a pitch to their struggle for better health services, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) has today launched a relay hunger strike at the university administration block.

Last night, hundreds of students marched in protest through the campus. The march culminated with more than 25 students sitting on a relay hunger strike, including the JNUSU president Sandeep Singh and vice-president Shephalika Shekhar.

“When confronted with the recent deaths of both a student and a visiting faculty member on campus, the administration has refused to take the responsibility,” said Sandeep.

He added, “The administration claims that the fault lies with the UGC which has refused to sanction funds. And now to add insult to the injury, they are also claiming that the ministry of human resource development has instructed the university to take economical measures.”

The JNUSU office-bearers also condemned MDRD’s directives to the educational institutions to generate their own funds by increasing fees.

Gurgaon, September 18
INLD candidate from Badshahpur vidhan sabha Gopi Chand Gehlot has claimed that Congress ministers are just confusing people to get their votes. They made promises to them but failed to provide any facilities. All of them broke promises after winning the election.

Gehlot said this while addressing the gathering at village Wajirpur, Hamirpur, Jhund Sarai and Farukh Nagar town near here today.

He affirmed that during the tenure of Congress government, prices of household items have increased. They cannot get proper food, education, medical and other facilities.

Gehlot also criticised the government for not providing household commodities to the villagers of Farukhnagar for the last one year.

He said if they come to power, they will provide 25 kgs of rice or wheat to all poor people. Besides, insurance worth Rs 10 lakh will be done and if a girl carries on studying after ten plus two, she will be given a scooty.

The spokesperson of the party Yogi Yadav said that INLD’s vice-president Anant Ram Tanwar will be inaugurating Badshahpur Vidan Sabha party office on September 20. Gehlot will be filing his nomination on September 22.

New Delhi, September 18
The Delhi High Court today upheld the life sentence for the 10 policemen convicted for shooting two innocent businessmen at Connaught Place 12 years ago.

A division bench of Justices B.N. Chaturvedi and G.S. Sistani upheld the life term for then ACP S.S. Rathi and nine others for gunning down Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh on Barakhamba Road on March 31, 1997.

A city court in October 2007 held all 10 policemen guilty of gunning down the businessmen. — IANS

Noida, September 18
Even after 30 years of its inception, the modern hi-tech city of Noida is yet to find a scientific way of treating its waste which is dumped at any vacant place.

All these years, Noida Authority officials have gone on several foreign jaunts to every possible city looking for ways to treat its waste. However, they could not formulate a realistic plan for Noida. Even today one can find odd pits in diffrerent localities, which are used for dumping garbage.

These pits are not dug up scientifically for the purpose. They are formed due to illegal land mining in the area. Since the pits are not lined, toxic waste seeps into the ground water. Garbage is also burnt.

Every time the Noida Authority selects a place, the residents of the neighbouring villages get together to lodge

a protest and get the decision revoked.

A site was selected near Greater Noida 2007 where the Noida Authority had proposed to set up two plants, for converting garbage into manure and generate electricity. But trouble brewed again and the plan was shelved.

In June this year, the Noida chief executive officer had stated that the process of selecting a site for setting up a sanitary landfill is on. Three months down the line, the authorities appear to be still busy searching for the illusive site for the sanitary landfill.